Traditional Irish songs often revolve around a few well-explored themes: family, drinking, love (lost and found, and of drinking), war and immigration. All of these can be found on Shadow and Light, the sophomore solo album by guitarist/producer John Doyle. But here's where Doyle's album parts with tradition: Instead of recording a collection of jigs, […]

"You've got to be born to do this," says Mary Frances, keyboardist for Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty band. She's talking about a number of things — being on stage, being on the road and being the lone woman in a six-piece funk outfit. "You've got to love the journey," she says. Frances joined the […]

Swedish-born singer/songwriter Lykke Li is well traveled (she's lived in Portugal, Morocco, Nepal, India and Bushwick, Brooklyn), a fact that seems to have left her not just worldly but wary. "Growing up, I was really shy and I never found my place," she tells Xpress. "I was always quite strange." It was on stage that […]